Greetings to the OPEN community. We are glad to bring you this update on our activities for the first half of 2016.
Chennai floods update
Flood damage to the OPEN partner schools in Chennai turned out to be more limited than we had initially estimated. Schools were also ably supported by local NGOs and by the government.
We funded the repair of benches and desks at Jaigopal Garodia School in Virugambakkam, Chennai; we also replaced the stage and assembly portico at this school, for a total cost of USD 10,600.
Post-secondary education: Ignite Scholarship Program
As a reminder, we supported 150 students last year through this scholarship program. Students are predominantly in college for B.Com., B.Sc., 3 year Polytechnic, or 4-year Engineering degrees.
We are glad to announce that 30 of the 36 final year students have graduated on time. 21 of them already have jobs or have enrolled in higher studies programs. We want to reiterate that these students come from very poor backgrounds, with average family income of Rs. 6000 (before we enroll them, we visit them at home and verify living commensurate with stated income); they have typically studied in Tamil medium high schools, and hence college graduation is a major achievement. Here are homes of two of the students that we are considering for our program this year. One is a single room home and the other is an equally humble dwelling.
Our goals for these students are first, that they graduate, and second, that they obtain jobs. We conducted career counseling and mock interview sessions for the students in Feb-March 2016. Classes were held over 6 Sundays at Ganapathy Iyer School in Gopalapuram. Though most colleges had extra weekend classes to make up flood-lost days, more than half the students attended these sessions. We plan to continue these classes this academic year as well. The children realize the importance of practical training, and several continuing students have obtained summer internships through OPEN.
We are currently in the selection process for new students. Our budget for the 2016-2017 academic year is $23,000.
The video below shows one of the children who came to our career counseling sessions in Feb-March 2016. The children were coached in resume-writing, interviewing, and public speaking, and on general career options for their particular skills.
Results-based education: Supplemental Classes by Vidyarambam
We mentioned in our last update that the founder of Vidyarambam, Mr. Ranganathan, passed away. We are happy to note that one of his sons has taken up the mantle of running the foundation, and dedicated staff are still in place to execute Mr. Ranganathan's vision.
We continue working with Vidyarambam Trust to bring their Easy Learning English and Easy Learning Mathematics supplemental programs to 6 partner schools in Chennai. Over 1700 students were coached in English (classes 6-8) and Math (classes 1-5) during academic year 2015-2016. Our budget for the 2015-2016 academic year is $27,000, for 1700 students, at an annual cost/student of $16.50.
The pre-post comparisons below show the great improvement in performance of the children from the diagnostic phase to the final test phase for 2015-16. The vast majority of children progress from C grade (red bar) to A grade (green bar).
Here are some photographs of Vidyarambam classes in action.
Results-based education: Ashraya libraries, Arts and Science Clubs
The Ashraya Foundation runs libraries and Science and Arts clubs at 9 schools in rural Karnataka. We support librarian salaries and salaries for Arts and Science teachers at 4 of these schools. The reading program is open to all students in classes 4-8, and the Arts and Science clubs are open to the best 20 students in classes 6-8 from each school. The reading level of all students is monitored, and remedial instructions are provided to the bottom 20% of each batch. The best 20 students are enrolled in a Book of the Month Club, and get to pick the best books and do book reports. Our budget for academic year 2015-2016 is $6800, and we support 700 children in 4 schools, at an annual cost/student of approx $10.
The 2015-16 chart below shows that 1/3 children improved their reading over the course of the year. Ashraya has hired a dedicated Kannada teacher to provide remedial instruction to batches of 200 students over 2 months, with the target of improving reading levels in 2 in 3 children. The video shows a profile of Art student Sahana, and the picture after that shows the landscape painting competition winners at Ashraya's Leonardo da Vinci day in Feb 2016.
Rural Education: Single Teacher Schools
We continue funding the Single Teacher program, run by the Swami Vivekananda Rural Development Society, for operating expenses for 5 schools (168 students) in Tiruvallur district in rural Tamil Nadu. One person teaches all children in the school, who study together though they may be in different grades. After completing Class 5, students are expected to continue education at regular schools.
Ongoing Projects
We continue our support of Ganapathy Iyer Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Gopalapuram, Chennai, with tuition scholarships for poor children, and operating expenses for after-school classes (chess, karate) and breakfast/evening snacks. This program benefits 170 children. All 47 girls who wrote the Class X board exam passed; 19 of the 47 scored above 400/500; and the highest mark obtained was 473.
The Turning Point Trust aims to improve life skills for the children of slum dwellers in Rotary Nagar, Chennai. A Children's parliament, personality development classes, and first aid training classes are conducted on weekends to coach children on public speaking, and help is provided to perform homework.
We are sponsoring 10 children from the Malleswaram Shishu Vihar, Bangalore, with scholarships for school; in 2015-16, all 10 passed with A grade. We are funding after-school Math tuition classes for standards 6-8 in 3 schools in Bangalore, in collaboration with the Adarsh Colony CSRFoundation. We continue to fund computer teacher salaries at Somasundaram School in rural Tamil Nadu. We continue to monitor scholarship grants for poor children at Jaigopal Garodia Rashtrotthana Vidyalaya in Bangalore.
OPEN key statistics, 2003 - June 2016
The OPEN community has supported over 25,000 students in the past 13 years. A breakdown of grants is shown in the chart above. We wish to point out that for infrastructure projects such as classrooms, only the students benefited in the year of the grant have been included in the student count. The actual student count is likely much higher, as a typical classroom can be used for 5+ years, and typical furniture for 3+ years.
OPEN Needs You
OPEN has been registered as a non-profit charitable foundation in India and in the U.S. Contributions in both countries are tax-deductible. As always, our ability to fund these projects depends on your generosity. Please use the year-end opportunity to contribute to the children of India, and save on your taxes. Checks payable to OPEN Inc. may be sent to Kumar or Rajesh at:
Kumar Thiagarajan, 25470 Gimbel Dr, South Riding, VA 20152
Rajesh Ramadoss, 38 Ocean St, Millburn, NJ 07041
Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to Sriram in India in favor of OPEN India Charitable Trust:
Please consider investing in India's future. To delay may mean to forget.
Sincerely,
The OPEN Team
2015 H2 Update
Greetings to the OPEN community. We wish everyone a happy holiday season and a happy new year. In this festive season, there are some sad notes. We hope friends and family made it unscathed through the floods in Chennai; many of our partner schools and schoolchildren did not. We are also deeply sorry to announce the passing away of Mr. V. Ranganathan, Founder of Vidyarambam Trust, on Christmas day in India; we hope he rests in peace after a decade of working to educate Tamil Nadu's underprivileged children. This is a good time to remember the neediest, and to reflect on our blessings.
Chennai floods update
OPEN's Sriram Sankaran visited several partner schools late Dec 2015. He is sorry to report that they suffered significant damage due to the floods, and post-flood aftermath. Ground floor classrooms at Cariappa Vocational High School in Saligramam were flooded, and toilet fixtures and the kitchen were damaged. 30 students lost everything and are being provided counseling by the Government. The Jaigopal Garodia Girls' school at Saidapet didn't suffer directly from the floods, but was used as a refugee shelter for the flood-hit people of Saidapet, and the toilets, kitchen, and class furniture suffered significant damage at that time. The Jaigopal Garodia Girls' school at Virugambakkam, with 2000 students, is one of the 10 most affected schools in Chennai. It needs help to rebuild toilets and to construct a shelter for the assembly area. Ganapathy Iyer Girls' school at Gopalapuram didn't suffer flood damage directly, but many students were personally affected and the school has requested replacement uniforms.
Students' status will become clearer as they return to school in the New Year. The government is replacing books and notebooks but quantities may not be sufficient.
We will continue to collect and prioritize schools' requests. Cariappa school has already asked for emergency funds to raise the ground level by a few feet, whereas the Jaigopal Garodia schools have asked for replacement benches and desks and rebuilding of toilets. We estimate total cost of relief already requested at USD 30,000.
OPEN will focus on post-flood education support, consistent with our mission, and will also provide some financial assistance to NGOs that are doing post-flood rebuilding and rehabilitation.
Post-secondary education: Ignite Scholarship Program
The OPEN community supports 140 students’ post-secondary education in this academic year. Students are predominantly in college for B.Com., B.Sc., 2/3 year Polytechnic, or 4-year Engineering degrees. We are supporting 54 new students this year, with about 60% of them being women. On average, the monthly family incomes of new students are about Rs. 6000, and the students entering Polytechnic average 75% in the 12th exam; students entering B.Com/B.Sc average 85%, and Engineering students average about 95% in the 12th standard board exam. Our budget for the 2015-2016 academic year is $23,000.
It is clear from the marks that the students are good academically, with some students potentially needing help to move from Tamil medium to English medium. In our interactions, we observe that students need help with communications skills for campus interviews, and with career goals setting. We are exploring communications workshops and soft skills improvement for all students, and internship opportunities for junior students, and will keep our community updated on this program.
Results-based education: Supplemental Classes by Vidyarambam
The passing of Mr. Ranganathan is a great loss to Vidyarambam and to OPEN. Many of us remember Mr. Ranganathan's simplicity and passion to educate, that he conveyed during his presentation at the Innisai Mazhai concert in Northern Virginia, 2012. We continue working with Vidyarambam Trust to bring their Easy Learning English and Easy Learning Mathematics supplemental programs to 6 partner schools in Chennai. Over 1700 students are being coached in English (classes 6-8) and Math (classes 1-5) during academic year 2015-2016. Our budget for the 2015-2016 academic year is $21,000.
As a reminder, the Tamil Nadu government has mandated that any child that goes to a Govt school must be taught in English medium if the child so desires, and this unfunded mandate has led to a large switch in education from Tamil to English medium. Another challenge for schools is a large itinerant student population from the families of migrant workers, which means that Govt schools may get children who are far behind the normal education level - children that they are mandated to educate.
These children need an immersion program in English and Math - an immersion that existing teachers are not trained to provide. This need for introductory/remedial education is fulfilled admirably by Vidyarambam.
Results-based education: Ashraya libraries
The Ashraya Foundation runs libraries and Science and Arts clubs at 6 schools in rural Karnataka. With OPEN's support, Ashraya completed library construction at 3 more schools in 2014, and is running a Reading program for students at these schools. Each book has a GROWBY rating that shows the reading level for that book. Ashraya monitors the number of books checked out by each student, and the GROWBY reading proficiency that is demonstrated by the student as the academic year progresses, with 4 reading ability tests. High-level program dashboards are shared with Block Education Officers. On average, a student checks out a book every two weeks. Our budget for academic year 2015-2016 is $6500, and we support 600 children in 3 schools. Ashraya are hoping to publish a book of the best paintings from the children in the Arts clubs; and are providing supplies and training for the children in the Science clubs to learn through experimentation. Over the next year, we aim to add Science and Arts clubs at the 3 OPEN schools as well, and will continue to support Ashraya in the great work that they are doing.
Rural Education: Single Teacher Schools
We continue funding the Single Teacher program, run by the Swami Vivekananda Rural Development Society, for operating expenses for 5 schools (~160 students) in Tiruvallur district in rural Tamil Nadu. One person teaches all children in the school, who study together though they may be in different grades. After completing Class 5, students are expected to continue education at regular schools.
Ongoing Projects
We continue our support of Ganapathy Iyer Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Gopalapuram, Chennai, with tuition scholarships for poor children, and operating expenses for after-school classes (chess, karate) and breakfast/evening snacks. We have been requested to provide replacement uniforms for many of these children post- the Chennai floods.
The Turning Point Trust aims to improve life skills for the children of slum dwellers in Rotary Nagar, Chennai. Spoken and written English and computer skills are taught daily from 4.30-8pm to children and youth to better prepare them for life and employment. We provide the operating expenses for these centers.
We are sponsoring 10 children from the Malleswaram Shishu Vihar, Bangalore, with scholarships for school. We are funding Math and English classes for standards 6-8 in 3 schools in Bangalore, in collaboration with the Adarsh Colony CSRFoundation. We continue to fund teacher salaries at Somasundaram School in rural Tamil Nadu. We continue to fund the Samriddhi Foundation in Bangalore for supporting 10 children of migrant workers for bridge education and subsequent placement into government schools. We continue to monitor scholarship grants for poor children at Jaigopal Garodia Rashtrotthana Vidyalaya in Bangalore.
OPEN key statistics, 2003 - Dec 2015
The OPEN community has supported over 23,000 students in the past 12 years. A breakdown of grants is shown in the chart above. We wish to point out that for infrastructure projects such as classrooms, only the students benefited in the year of the grant have been included in the student count. The actual student count is likely much higher, as a typical classroom can be used for 5+ years, and typical furniture for 3+ years.
OPEN Needs You
OPEN has been registered as a non-profit charitable foundation in India and in the U.S. Contributions in both countries are tax-deductible. As always, our ability to fund these projects depends on your generosity. Please use the year-end opportunity to contribute to the children of India, and save on your taxes. Checks payable to OPEN Inc. may be sent to Kumar or Rajesh at:
Kumar Thiagarajan, 25470 Gimbel Dr, South Riding, VA 20152
Rajesh Ramadoss, 38 Ocean St, Millburn, NJ 07041
Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to Sriram in India in favor of OPEN India Charitable Trust:
Please consider investing in India's future. To delay may mean to forget.
Sincerely,
The OPEN Team
2015 H1 Update
Greetings to all in the OPEN community. While we are happy to bring you an update on our activities in the first half of 2015, we also note with exceeding sadness the passing away of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India, and for ever the People's President. Dr. Kalam was known for his passion for teaching and for his belief that the young are the future of India, and passed away while giving a lecture to students at IIM Shillong. "The lives of great men remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time" - Wordsworth.
Fund-raising update
A fund-raising event was held at Bangalore, India, in partnership with the Let's Do Some Good Foundation. The audience of 400 was given an update on OPEN activities.
The eighth OPEN fundraising concert, Innisai Mazhai 2015, was held on May 16, 2015, at Ashburn, VA. An audience of about 700 was entertained by twin halves of music from A.R.Rahman and Ilaiyaraaja, presented by Vasanth Vaseegaran and his band, V-Sharp. We want to thank everyone who supported us with ticket and food purchases, and especially want to thank the children who contributed from their savings. At the concert, we presented a summary of OPEN activities from 2003-2014, and update that summary below.
OPEN key statistics, 2003 - July 2015
The OPEN community has supported over 20,500 students in the past 12 years. A breakdown of grants in the different categories is shown in the pie chart above. We wish to point out that for infrastructure projects such as classrooms, only the students benefited in the year of the grant are included in the total student count. The actual student count is likely much higher, as a typical classroom can be used for 5+ years, and typical furniture for 3+ years.
Post-secondary education: Ignite Program
The OPEN community supports over 100 students’ post-secondary education at this time. Students are predominantly in college for B.Com, 2-3 year Polytechnic, or 4-year Engineering degrees. We have shortlisted 54 new students for support this year, with about 60% of them being women. With the addition of returning students, we expect to support over 100 students for the coming academic year. On average, the family incomes of new students are about Rs. 6000, and the students entering Polytechnic average 75% in the 12th exam; students entering B.Com/B.Sc average 85%, and Engineering students average about 95% in the 12th standard board exam. Our estimated budget for the 2015-2016 academic year is $23,000. We are happy to present the success stories of graduates Chiranjeevi and Lakshmi in the following videos.
Results-based education: Supplemental Classes by Vidyarambam
We continue working with the Vidyarambam Trust to bring their Easy Learning English and Easy Learning Mathematics supplemental programs to 12 partner schools in Chennai. Over 2000 students were coached in English and Math during academic year 2014-2015, and the improvement in performance from the pre-test to the final test is shown below. The bulk of the children improved from C grade pre-program, to A grade post-program. Our estimated budget for the 2015-2016 academic year is $20,000.
The Tamil Nadu Govt has mandated that any child that goes to a Govt school must be taught in English medium if the child so desires, and this unfunded mandate has led to a large switch in education from Tamil to English medium. Another challenge for schools is a large itinerant student population from the families of migrant workers, which means that Govt schools may get children who are far behind the normal education level - children that they are mandated to educate. These children need an immersion program in English and Math - an immersion that existing teachers are not trained to provide. This need for introductory/remedial education is fulfilled admirably by Vidyarambam and is recognized by the Education department in Chennai, which is asking Vidyarambam to start classes in additional schools. Vidyarambam had been focusing on rural centers, but with initial seed support from OPEN, has started Easy Learning English and Math classes in multiple Chennai schools, and is also the primary provider for immersion English/Math to the schools supported by the Ford CSR program in the Maraimalai Nagar suburb of Chennai.
Results-based education: Ashraya libraries
The Ashraya Foundation has completed library construction at three schools in rural Karnataka, and is running the Reading program for all students at these schools. Each book has a GROWBY rating that shows the reading level for that book. Ashraya monitors the number of books checked out by each student, and the GROWBY level reading proficiency that is demonstrated by the student as the academic year progresses, with 4 reading ability classification tests. High-level program dashboards are shared with Block Education Officers. On average, a student checks out a book every two weeks. The initial and final GROWBY results for the 3 schools supported by OPEN are shown below. 73% of the 619 children showed improvement by at least one level or more, and 46% showed improvement by two levels or more.
Rural Education: Single Teacher Schools
We are also funding the Single Teacher program, run by the Swami Vivekananda Rural Development Society, for operating expenses for 5 schools (168 students) in Tiruvallur district in rural Tamil Nadu. A very heartening note is that the ratio of boys to girls in these schools is 51-49! These schools operate up to Class 5. One person teaches all children in the school, who study together. After completing Class 5, students are expected to continue education at regular schools, which may potentially be some distance away. Several students have done just that, and been successful. Notable among them is R.Gunasekaran, who secured 481/500 in the recent board exams and belongs to Valliammapettai village, Tiruvallur disctrict. One woman has completed B.Sc. Nursing, and two students are pursuing Engineering degrees. Ms. Swathi, who studied in a STS school in Kalyanakuppam village, Tiruvallur, completed a B.A.Literature degree and is now teaching at an STS school. This society also recently built 10 toilets in Tiruvallur as part of the Clean India initiative, and we are honored to support them.
On-going Projects
We continue our support of Ganapathy Iyer Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Gopalapuram, Chennai, with tuition scholarships for poor children, and operating expenses for after-school classes (chess, karate) and breakfast/evening snacks. All 33 of the girls in 10th standard passed the 2015 SSLC board exams, with 45% of the students securing above 80% marks; and 88% of the students securing above 60% marks. The topper scored 469/500.
The Turning Point Trust aims to improve life skills for the children of slum dwellers in Rotary Nagar, Chennai. Spoken and written English and computer skills are taught daily from 4.30-8pm to children and youth to better prepare them for life and employment. We provide the operating expenses for these centers.
We are sponsoring 10 children from the Malleswaram Shishu Vihar, Bangalore, with scholarships for school. We are funding Math and English classes for standards 6-8 in 3 schools in Bangalore, in collaboration with the Adarsh Colony CSRFoundation. We continue to fund teacher salaries at Somasundaram School in rural Tamil Nadu. We continue to fund the Samriddhi Foundation in Bangalore for supporting 10 children of migrant workers for bridge education and subsequent placement into government schools. We continue to monitor scholarship grants for poor children at Jaigopal Garodia Rashtrotthana Vidyalaya in Bangalore.
OPEN Needs You
OPEN has been registered as a non-profit charitable foundation in India and in the U.S. Contributions in both countries are tax-deductible. As always, our ability to fund these projects depends on your generosity. Please use the year-end opportunity to contribute to the children of India, and save on your taxes. We request that tax-deductible contributions payable to OPEN Inc. be sent to Kumar or Rajesh at:
Kumar Thiagarajan, 25470 Gimbel Dr, South Riding, VA 20152
Rajesh Ramadoss, 38 Ocean St, Millburn, NJ 07041
Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to Sriram in India in favor of OPEN India Charitable Trust:
Please consider investing in India's future. To delay may mean to forget.
Sincerely,
The OPEN Team
2014 H2 Update
Greetings to all in the OPEN community, and we wish everyone a happy holiday season. We are happy to report on our activities in the second half of 2014.
Post-secondary education: IGNITE Program
The OPEN community supports 120 students’ post-secondary education at this time. Students are predominantly in college for B.Com, 2-3 year Polytechnic, or 4-year Engineering degrees. The seniors have started the final semester and are attending campus interviews and/or planning for further higher education. Since a majority of children in the program are the first in their family to attend college and cannot count on their parents to offer much guidance, we are mentoring them closely, and offering guidance on writing resumes, obtaining CA articleships, internships etc. A common theme that emerges is that students are not confident in English and want more practice in spoken English in an interview format, so we are planning to add that component to our spoken English classes. We have scheduled a mentoring/counseling session on 3 Jan 2015 for the graduating students. We hope to provide some success stories at our 2015 first update.
Headline Project: Supplemental Classes by Vidyarambam
We continue working with the Vidyarambam Trust to bring their Easy Learning English and Easy Learning Mathematics supplemental programs to four partner schools in Chennai. 809 students from classes 6-8 have already taken the diagnostic and mid-program tests for this program. An end-program test will capture final metrics on the efficacy of the program.
Headline Project: Libraries by Ashraya
The Ashraya Foundation has completed library construction at three schools in rural Karnataka, and are running the Reading program for all students at these schools; together with Arts and Science clubs for motivated top students. Every book in the libraries has a GROWBY rating that shows reading levels. Ashraya monitors the number of books checked out by each student, and the GROWBY level reading proficiency that is demonstrated by the student as the academic year progresses. High-level program dashboards are shared with the Block Education Officers, since they have to approve these extra-curricular programs.
On-going Projects
We continue our support of Ganapathy Iyer Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Gopalapuram, Chennai, with tuition scholarships for poor children, and operating expenses for after-school classes (chess, karate) and breakfast/evening snacks. The bulk of the expenses are borne by Mr. Nat Kumar, a long-standing OPEN contributor. 150 students are benefited.
The Turning Point Trust aims to improve life skills for the children of slum dwellers and sanitary workers in Rotary Nagar, Chennai. Spoken and written English and computer skills are taught daily from 4.30-8pm to children and youth to better prepare them for life and employment. A Children's Parliament was held recently to enhance children's public speaking skills. We provide the operating expenses for these centers.
The Pudiyador center in Saligramam, Chennai, conducts after-school classes for the children of the Gen. Cariappa Elementary School. There is an Arts and Painting session every week.
We are sponsoring 10 children from the Malleswaram Shishu Vihar, Bangalore, with scholarships for school. We are also funding the Single Teacher program for operating expenses for 6 schools (180 students) in rural Tamil Nadu. We are funding Math and English classes for standards 6-8 in 3 schools in Bangalore, in collaboration with the Adarsh Colony CSRFoundation. We continue to fund teacher salaries and operational expenses at Somasundaram School in rural Tamil Nadu. We continue to fund the Samridhi Foundation in Bangalore for supporting 10 children of migrant workers for bridge education and subsequent placement into government schools. We continue to monitor scholarship grants for poor children at Jaigopal Garodia Rashtrotthana Vidyalaya in Bangalore.
OPEN Needs You
OPEN has been registered as a non-profit charitable foundation in India and in the U.S. Contributions in both countries are tax-deductible. As always, our ability to fund these projects depends on your generosity. Please use the year-end opportunity to contribute to the children of India, and save on your taxes. We request that tax-deductible contributions payable to OPEN Inc. be sent to Kumar or Rajesh at:
Kumar Thiagarajan, 25470 Gimbel Dr, South Riding, VA 20152
Rajesh Ramadoss, 38 Ocean St, Millburn, NJ 07041
Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to Sriram in India in favor of OPEN India Charitable Trust:
